1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet conveying apparatus used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer and in an image reading apparatus such as a scanner.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image reading apparatus such as a scanner includes an image reading portion that reads an image of a sheet, and a sheet conveying apparatus that conveys the sheet from a sheet tray to the image reading portion. In addition, an image forming apparatus such as a printer includes an image forming portion that forms an image on a sheet, and a sheet conveying apparatus that supplies the sheet from a sheet tray to the image forming portion.
Such a sheet conveying apparatus is provided with a guide member that applies a force to the sheet to be conveyed by an elastic body.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-76438 discloses a biasing member which applies a force to a sheet to one side in a sheet conveying path using strength of stiffness of a film member, employing the thin film member formed of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resin as an elastic body.
In addition, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-162354, a guide member which guides a sheet to a pivot shaft side of a sensor flag provided in a sheet conveying path using strength of stiffness of a film member, similarly employing the thin film member formed of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resin as an elastic body, is provided. As described above, it is possible to reliably sense the sheet by the sensor flag by providing the guide member.
However, in the guide member based on the elastic body formed of the thin film member proposed hitherto, the guide member itself may be worn out by an edge of a leading end or trailing end of the passing sheet.
Particularly, the shape of the guide member of the related art described above has a bent portion which is convex with respect to the sheet passing face. When the number of passing sheets in such a shape gets larger, the bent portion may be worn out and sharpened by the passing sheet. In addition, when the worn-out proceeds, the downstream side of the sheet in the conveying direction is torn off from the bent portion of the guide member, and may be conveyed to the downstream in the sheet conveying apparatus with the sheet.